RESEARCH

The question that is driving our research in the long-term focuses on how we can apply stem cell-based therapies to repair damaged tissues.

We would like to determine how stem cells participate in the formation of branching organs and how they respond to various external and internal cues in normal, damaged or diseased environments. With this knowledge we then design ways to (re)generate new tissues and/or injured organs.

A particular area of the lab is focused on patients suffering from saliva loss, termed hypo-salivation, which can lead to dry mouth syndrome or xerostomia. This often painful and devastating oral health condition can occur in head-and-neck cancer patients receiving radiation on their salivary glands as part of radiotherapy treatment, or as a result of auto-immune diseases like Sjögren, or from the intake of certain medications.

With respect to those patients, we aim to team up with other experts in the field to define what is biologically and molecularly occurring in the damaged tissue, and define regenerative therapies that can be translated into the clinic.

Regeneration of irradiated salivary glands by stem cell therapy

TEACHING & OUTREACH

TEACHING

DENT 511: The Oralfacial Complex in Health II – The Oral Environment

This graduate level course is designed to provide the fundamental concepts of the oral environment that include salivary glands, oral mucosa and skin, as well as an introduction to the oral microbial ecology. It also introduces the role of oral health in dysfunctions and pathologies.

GROUP

Isabelle Lombaert, PhD

Dr. Lombaert earned her BSc and MSc in Bio-Engineering at Ghent University, Belgium. She next graduated with a PhD in Medical Sciences at the University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands. Prior to joining the University of Michigan she worked at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD as a Visiting and Research Fellow.